Compulsive Gamblers’ Confessions: Learn to Manage Your Gambling Experience

Gambling can be a tremendously fun experience. For compulsive gamblers, every successful bet acts not only as a mood amplifier but also as a potent de-stressor, helping them forget about the craze of their daily lives. What they lose in money, they gain in terms of mood and fulfillment. But that’s how the situation unfolds if their gambling habits are of the healthy kind. The moment betting stops being a fun pastime and starts dominating their lives, it turns into a curse.
Some people lose their entire fortunes, unable to withstand the allure of the tables or slots. Others lose much, much more. The only way to avoid such a depressing fate is to reign in your desire to continue and know when to stop.
There are numerous ways of managing your betting habits to ensure they never turn into an addiction or, at the very least, don’t get worse. They include choosing free slot machines, setting up a monthly gambling budget, never betting under the influence or when highly stressed out, and even using online peer-support groups. Read the tips below and understand how to manage your compulsion to play.
Stick To Free Slot Machines Games
As you may already know, the US gambling revenue is set to break another record this year. It wouldn’t be possible without the unwavering popularity of slots. Slot machines are one of the most addictive forms of gambling, mainly due to their fast-paced nature. However, it’s not just due to the speed that slot machines are so addictive. It’s also their design.
Slot machines are designed to be extremely attractive, with all sorts of bright colours and sounds. They are also set to make players feel like they are always about to win a huge jackpot, keeping them coming back for more.
Now, you need to know that this kind of design is not limited to slot machines alone. Any kind of casino game you play, even board games like roulette or poker, can be designed in a way that leads you to become addicted to it.
This is why it’s best to start playing with free slot machines games instead of real money ones. You just have to check the Best Free Slots Games – Ultimate Review or look up some exciting free slot games on your own and start playing them instead of their paid counterparts.
Why should you do that? Because free slot games are designed differently. Firstly, they don’t have real money betting options. Secondly, they don’t have as many fancy bells and whistles as real money slots do. They aren’t as fast-paced as well.
Basically, free slot machine games are stripped-down versions of their “real-life” counterparts, making them easier to handle. It’s just like drinking beer and cider vs. hard liquor: sure, all three can get you drunk, but only hard liquor will get you drunk after a mere bottle.
Limit Your Monthly Gambling Budget
It’s not enough to set a limit on how much you spend on real money casino slots gambling each day or week. You also need to put a cap on how much profit or loss you let yourself make each month or year. This way, if you go into a streak of bad luck, you won’t lose more than your monthly budget allows.
Similarly, if you win big time one month, you don’t have to feel compelled to go back and gamble until you lose it all again. By setting up a monthly budget, you ensure that your gambling activity is always under control. You decide when a gambling session ends and when a new one begins!
Avoid Gambling When You Are Under Influence or Stressed Out
Most compulsive gamblers fail because they gamble when they are drunk or stressed out. If you want to avoid succumbing to the same fate as they did, make sure that you never gamble when you are not in your top form.
If you are drunk, this means that your willpower is already weakened and won’t be able to protect you from the desire to play one more game. On the other hand, if you are stressed, it might lead you to bet more recklessly and more frequently than usual — thus making it easier for your losses to accumulate! To avoid becoming yet another statistic for the compulsive gambling hall of shame, make sure that you never gamble when drunk or stressed out.
Talk to Counsellors
If you feel like your gambling habit is becoming increasingly worse over time, the chances are that it has already become an addiction. What do we mean by that? Well, an addiction is something that affects your life negatively in significant ways, causing other areas of your life to suffer (e.g., relationships with friends and family, work performance).
If you notice that your gambling habit is causing these kinds of problems in your life, it might be time for you to seek professional help from those specifically trained to deal with such situations.
Find a Good Peer-Support Group on the Internet
The Internet offers numerous peer-support groups for problem gamblers who want to get help for their addiction. These groups allow people to talk about their problems anonymously without feeling judged by others. Moreover, they offer tips on how best to manage your addiction and get help from counsellors. So if you think that it might be time to seek help for your gambling addiction but you’re too ashamed of yourself to see a therapist in person, join an anonymous online peer-support group instead.
Conclusion
Managing your gambling experience is one of the vital parts of being a gambler. Without following a strict set of rules, it’s easy to succumb to temptation and find yourself in the wrong spot later on.
It is important to remember that it is never too early to start managing your gambling addiction. The moment you feel like gambling is starting to cause problems, it’s time to start managing it and performing damage control. If you don’t want to spend all your money, lose your job, and ruin your relationships with friends and family, take the tips mentioned above to heart and start managing your gambling habits today! Best of luck!